


A New Kind Of Crazy.

by brodiebear



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Characters will be added into the tag as and when they appear., M/M, Mick was only mentioned because I'm not ready to jump into that just yet!, There's going to be hints towards Cisco/Lisa because I'm a sucker for that ship.
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-24
Updated: 2015-09-25
Packaged: 2018-04-23 05:33:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4864964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brodiebear/pseuds/brodiebear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is roughly/loosely based on Freaky Friday / The Change-Up.</p><p>Barry and Snart are doing their usual thing, Snart breaks into some bank and Barry's there in seconds to stop him. But they get into a half-heated argument/debate over how easy it would be to live the others life for a while.</p><p>You should be careful what you wish for, shouldn't you?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Day One

“Barry. Barry!” comes Cisco’s voice on the other end of Barry’s comm, sounding a little higher pitched than usual.

“What?” Barry knew that tone of voice; it had been used quite often during his first week of hero-ing. Could he call it that? Probably not. His first week of being The Flash.

A sigh from Cisco is all Barry needs to hear, quick to interrupt whatever Cisco was about to say with a few words of his own. “How far?” Meaning: I ran past my designated area, how far back is it?

“About two and a half miles.” Cisco replies with a mixture of what sounds like a huff and a laugh. Barry removes his hand from the lightning bolt near his ear (where his comm is located, thanks to Cisco and his very smart ideas), and he runs. He’s gotten used to the running, but he hasn't gotten used to the way it feels, not yet.

It's yet another bank heist. Didn't these criminals get sick of doing the same thing over and over again? Surely they did. But maybe they did it for the same reason that Leonard Snart did, the thrill of the chase, the adrenaline, the excitement that it could cause. It doesn't surprise Barry to find out who's behind the heist: Leonard Snart (or Captain Cold, thanks to Cisco and his obsession with naming villains.) Just over two days ago, Barry had stopped him from robbing yet ANOTHER bank. But then again, Barry holds his doubts over whether Snart really intended on robbing the bank, or whether he did it for a face to face with Barry. He suspects the same thing of this “heist”.

It takes him less than six seconds to arrive at the bank, and he's less than impressed by what he sees. Lisa Snart is there, along with Mick Rory. Barry wanted it to be a surprise, that Snart'd brought his sister along (Cisco would be very pleased to know this, even though he rejects the idea of having a thing for her), as well as Mick Rory, pyromaniac, but in all honesty, this had become a regular thing. He sighs, coming to a loud, friction-creating stop, and he's thanking his lucky stars (and Cisco) for the flame retardant, friction proof suit right about now.

"Snart!" Barry called out, brows raised underneath the cowl, which really doesn't serve any purpose, because Snart can't see him doing so. But maybe he can guess, because he mimics the action, almost like a mirror looking at him, but older, more defined, with that stupid smirk on his lips that always screamed that he was looking for a challenge. Looking for the next big hit, the next big idea - that could fill in his quota of thrill.

"My, my, if it isn't the Scarlet Speedster." A nickname that Cold had recently adopted to Barry, and he had to say that he preferred that to "kid" or any other ridiculous name he had rolling around in that mind of his.

"Did you have to do this on my first day off in months?" Barry retorted, hands coming to rest on his thin waist. As much as he was scoffing down, food-wise, he wasn't put any weight on. Because of the metabolism. At least he didn't have to worry about that.

"People like us don't take vacations, Kid." The nickname drew out a soft sounding scowl from Barry and he shook his head, before his shoulders sagged slightly and he looked almost.. defeated? No, that wasn't it. Tired.

Barry Allen was tired, a confession he would never make aloud. Tired of chasing down the bad guys, tired of doing the same thing every day. That wasn't to say that Barry didn't find his day job interesting, because of course he did, but there was motivation behind becoming a CSI. His mothers death was his motivation. He wanted to spend every single second he has finding out who really killed his mom, and free his dad from prison - a conviction that he didn't deserve, and Snart's heists are not helping.

It seems as though Snart noticed the way he looked, because he was stalking forward, gun still tightly clenched in his hand, but it's at his side rather than raised up in the air as it had been just a few seconds ago. If Barry didn't know any better (but he does), he would have thought Snart cared about his tired expression. But he doesn't, and Barry could see that by the smirk that settled so easily on Snart's lips. He never stopped doing that, smirking. It was never a full smirk, just enough to curl his lips at the corners, enough to know that he meant business, and that he was going to rip into Barry if he wasn't careful.

"Looking a little tired there, Kid." Snart pointed out, and he must have noticed that the "kid" nickname was getting more than a little old by now. Barry was twenty-five! He was definitely not a kid, maybe in mind, but not in body.

"Me? Tired? Never." Barry wanted to smile at his own response, because he was quick off the mark when it came to words with Snart, but he doesn't. Smiling isn't a good thing right now, not when he's head-to-head with Leonard Snart. Normally he'd be tripping left, right and centre, because he was just like that. A little bit of a nerd (or a lot, depending on who you asked), about a lot of things, and the fact that he got to battle bad guys every single day, and maybe save someones life? That was a big thing, a good thing.

Lisa is getting impatient in the background, fingers flexing around the trigger of the gun but she doesn't press it, she's excited because this is maybe the fourth time that Lenny has let her go out on a heist, but she's becoming ever impatient. "Can you two just get this over and done with? Lenny, c'mon, we gotta go."

The sirens are a dead give-away of why they need to go; the police are on their way, and that's never a good thing. The last time Snart had been caught, Lisa had broken them out. But if Lisa, Leonard and Mick were put in prison, then who would break them out? Maybe if Barry could stall them a little longer -- but he doesn't want to, he's got half a mind to let them go. Because the game they play... It's almost fun. Snart was right when he said that Barry enjoys the thrill of the chase just as much as he does.

"Yeah, Lenny, you gotta go!" Barry mocked, a smile of his own reaching his lips but not quite his eyes. "It must be so easy for you, walking into a bank like you own it and just taking what you want, when you want."

"You think this is easy, Flash?" The Flash is drawn out, in that gravelly voice. The reason behind this is because Snart knows who he is, who he really is under the mask, but Lisa doesn't. He'd kept his promise, kept to his word of not telling anyone who the Flash was in favour of being able to do what he wanted, when he wanted -- but there came the catch, the Flash wouldn't just stop chasing him, no. The deal was that Snart could keep robbing, Barry would keep chasing, as long as he didn't harm an innocent. And he hadn't, so Barry kept chasing him.

"That's what I said, right? I'm sure that's what I said." Now Barry is trying to be funny, and he's got that stupid smile on his face.

"You should try it sometime." Snart raised a brow at Barry, which in turn, Barry mimicked.

"Being a villain?" Barry looked a little more than confused at the concept. Snart couldn't be serious, could he? Suggesting that Barry; The Flash, become a villain for a day? It wouldn't go down well. The last time he'd gone dark side was because of a meta-human that whammied him and he'd tried to fight it, god he'd tried, but it hadn't worked and he'd gone crazy on Oliver, attacked Eddie. Barry was just lucky that he had friends like Cisco, Caitlin and Wells that knew how to help him get back to normal.

"Sure, do you think it's easy to plot and plan each heist down to the last second, to make sure that it is completed with absolute perfection, that you get out alive, and unscathed. My heists take months to plan, every little detail taken into account, every possible way a heist can go down, all planned out.. You should try it sometime. It's invigorating."

"Yeah, that's great and all, Snart, but you need to remember who I am. I'm The Flash. The good guy, the guy that chases people like you down. But sure, I'd love to be you for a day. Get to lounge around and do absolutely nothing for a few hours, with no responsibilities and no real agenda other than 'Hey, I think we'll rob this bank today.' It'd be great! There's no need for planning with my powers. I'll be better than Leonard Snart." Barry replied sarcastically, throwing his arms into the air to emphasise what he's saying. It's a ridiculous notion, to think that Barry would even be tempted to go dark side. But that isn't the case; the darkness of it isn't what's tempting Barry. It's the lack of a responsibility, just for a day. The lack of needing to do anything, the lack of an agenda is what appeals to him, and it almost sounds nice. Almost.

Barry's reaction draws a dark rumble of laughter from Snart's chest, almost unbelieving of Barry's words. He looked somewhat offended by his words, actually.

The sirens were getting louder. They needed to go, and quick. They needed to wrap this up, now. Snart simply smirked and replied with a few words.

"I'm sure you'd do a great job, kid. But what I wouldn't give for you to be in my shoes for just one day. I bet you'd think differently." 

"It'd be funny, that's for sure." Barry muttered. Wait, was Barry actually agreeing to the ridiculous notion of being a criminal for the day? No, of course not. Definitely not. He wouldn't want to be a criminal, he just wanted the freedom. It sounded like Snart had a lot of it, and all Barry wanted was a bit more free time, to himself, so he could relax.

Careful what you wish for...  
TBC.


	2. One Hell of a Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little preview:
> 
> "Barry? Barry, snap out of it!" Caitlin called through the comm system. There was nothing she could do, nothing she could say. It seemed as though Barry was in some kind of trance? Some kind of fear-filled trance. He'd never acted this way before, the last time he had acted out of the ordinary was because of Rainbow Raider. But even then.. He'd been angry, not terrified.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Thank you for the positive notes on the last chapter, and I know that this chapter is up pretty fast given that the first was uploaded yesterday, but the words are coming to me a lot easier now.  
> Hopefully you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it? It was a lot of fun and I'm excited to write up the next one.  
> As always, a big thanks to Tumblr user @perditioner and @momomoon for their amazing work in beta'ing this fic.  
> Please feel free to leave constructive criticism/nice words. :3  
> I also apologise if I messed up the tenses, I tried my hardest this time to make sure that they were all the same. I'm also sorry if there's any punctuation mistakes.

Well, that was outrageous. Barry's mind was still reeling from the fact that he and Snart had both agreed that it might be funny to see how Barry would cope in being a criminal for the day. But that wasn't quite what Barry's original thought was, he just wanted the freedom. He was tired, tired of constantly doing the same thing. But that was who he was. The Flash didn't rest for anyone. He learned that the hard way, when he left the MetaHumans for the CCPD to deal with, people were hurt.

They didn't have the strength, the power nor the knowledge to be able to deal with Meta-Humans. But Barry did, with the help of Caitlin, Cisco and Wells in his ear, helping him to decide what was the best course of action, and for that he was thankful. More than thankful, and he hoped that the team knew that he appreciated them and their hard work.

After his confrontation with Snart, the day was pretty quiet. He was able to go home for a few hours, replenish and shower, before he was being called back in.  
His phone lit up with the familiar name. 'Wells'. They thought it might have been easier if they shared phone numbers, in case of a real emergency: a meta-human on the loose. Which meant that there was a meta-human on the loose. Great.

Barry picked up the phone and pressed 'answer', holding it to his ear. Thankfully, he never had to say much, because Wells was already explaining.

"There's a meta-human six blocks from your location -- we're still unsure of their powers, Barry. I'd suggest restraint and caution for this one, just until you can find out who they are, what they can do."

Shutting down the phone, Barry was gone within seconds. He'd taken his suit off at home, which meant that it was already at hand. Why didn't he have two suits? One for the lab, one for house. It'd make things a hell of a lot easier.

Within seconds, Barry had arrived at the location, and there stood a girl. She looked no older than Barry, maybe a little younger. She had gentle features, kind eyes, but Barry knew better than to fall for that. She could be dangerous, she could kill Barry where he stood if he was distracted for more than a few seconds at a time.

Barry was curious to see what her power was, and how she'd come about them. She looked ... sad, but she didn't look dangerous, not in the slightest. But Barry knew that looks could be deceiving.

The only problem with the girl was that she wasn't moving; she wasn't going for Barry, like the meta-humans normally did, especially with him wearing his suit. That was normally a big give-away of who he was, and almost everyone had heard of the Flash by now.

She didn't seem scared, she didn't seem all that bothered. She was just staring at Barry, staring right at him. Like she was trying to look into his soul. But then she spoke, and it was safe to say that she'd successfully spooked Barry.

"Barry Allen, the boy who was hit by lightning." She drawled, hands resting in her pockets. Finally, she made her move towards Barry and it made Barry take a step back. He wasn't ever visibly afraid of a meta-human, but he was showing it now. "The poor little boy who watched his mother die," she didn't sound remorseful, or spiteful; she was toneless.

Then she laughed, and it was so high pitched that it made Barry cringe, teeth grinding slightly when gaze finally met back up with hers. How the hell did she know any of this? How the hell had Barry not noticed her before? She didn't look like a friend, she didn't look like a friend of anyone he knew, so how did she know about him?

"You're scared," was all she stated, arms coming up to fold over her chest. "You're terrified. But how would I know that?" It was a question that Barry didn't want to answer, and he didn't need to. It was rhetorical. "Because I'm in that tiny little head of yours." A hand came up to tap the temple of her own head to emphasise her point. "I can see everything," she hissed.

"Oh yeah? And who are you?" Barry replied, his tone a little higher than usual. Fear. There was fear in his voice, and he was trying his damned hardest not to let it show, not to let his voice waver or crack.

"Your worst nightmare," she stated, taking quick steps towards Barry. For a normal person, she was pretty fast, her strides were paced and she was near Barry in seconds.

 _"Barry? Barry, snap out of it!"_ Caitlin called through the comm system. There was nothing she could do, nothing she could say. It seemed as though Barry was in some kind of trance? Some kind of fear-filled trance. He'd never acted this way before; the last time he had acted out of the ordinary was because of Rainbow Raider. But even then... He'd been angry, not terrified.

Barry was fighting with the voice in his head, her voice. It was crystal clear; how the hell had she gotten into his mind? She was reading every little thought: who he was, his responsibility ... his last conversation with Snart. Everything. He couldn't stop her. He was trying, he was trying--!

 _"Breathe, Barry."_ Then came Wells' voice, through the comm, sounding as confident as ever. Barry liked that Wells could sound so confident, that his voice would never waver, no matter how hard the situation was, no matter what situation presented to them. _"Breathe. Your vitals are all over the place. She's controlling your emotions, Barry."_

... That made so much more sense. He just needed to breathe, just needed to show her that he wasn't afraid. That he wasn't afraid of her, in particular. So he did, and his breaths were heavy at first but they soon calmed into a set rhythm. Before he knew it, the voice was gone. She was standing there, right in front of his face.

"You'll thank me later." She said, waving an arm at him before she was taking enough steps back until she was at the road, and then she was gone. Disappeared into thin air, or that was how it seemed.

"Barry? Barry?" Caitlin sounded worried, worried for the lack of response from Barry. But he'd been too invested in getting his mind back, getting himself back to normal. He felt a little off, now that she was gone. He felt violated; having someone in your mind like that, it wasn't a nice feeling. Barry never wanted to experience it again.

Barry fell forward slightly and his hands were cupping his knees while he tried to catch his breath. He huffed softly, cheeks puffed outwards. A hand came back up to the comm on his ear and he pressed it, hearing the comforting 'click'.

"Caitlin," he responds quietly, "I'm fine. I'm okay." He sounds so small, like the scared little boy that watched as his mom died, who watched his dad get put into a police car. All of the old memories were back, fresh as ever in his mind.

He raised a hand to wipe under the cowl, near his eye. A few tears had fallen, but he wasn't going to let that show. He had to be brave. He was the Flash.

Within seconds, he had disappeared from the scene (where luckily nobody had seen him), and he was back at S.T.A.R. Labs. He looked at Caitlin, then to Cisco, and then to Wells. They looked genuinely concerned for him. Barry remembered Wells' words, his vitals had been all over the place during their confrontation.

"Mr. Allen. Are you alright?" Wells asked after a few minutes of silence. It had been a comfortable silence, but it was time that it was broken. Barry looked tired, worn-down, and that worried just about everyone.

"Yeah -- yeah. She was -- in my head?" Barry replied with a sigh, a hand rubbing up his face, fingers hooking under the cowl to pull it up and over his head, so that his view is a little better of the faces around him.

"I need to check your vitals," Caitlin said as she walked towards Barry, and of course he complied. He wanted to make sure that he was alright, that she hadn't done anything funky to his brain. She'd said something... something that worried him.

 _"You'll thank me later."_ What was that supposed to mean? Why would he thank her? Why would he ever want to thank someone that messed with his head? Barry shook his head, ridding himself of the thought. He'd figure that out another day. For now, all he wanted to do was get his vitals checked and rest.

An hour later, Barry was given the all clear, and he said his goodbyes, claiming that he wanted to go home and get some sleep, maybe get some food and have a break. That didn't help in the team's concerns and Barry knew that, but he was exhausted.

Less than twenty minutes later, Barry had eaten a truck-loads worth of food, had enough water to probably fill a lake, and now he was settled in bed, still in his clothes, too tired to care. The curtains were shut, and he was ready to fall asleep. Looking at the clock, it read 8.20pm. Not bad.

Slowly his lids fell shut, and within minutes, he was asleep.

TBC.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, fans of ao3! I'm a brand new author, terrified to the depths of his soul about writing fanfiction. I'm a nervous bunny as it is, so I'm a little scared to how this is going to go, and how the reviews will reflect on my writing skills.
> 
> Please leave a review/constructive criticism/anything you can think of (but please be polite about it), I'd super appreciate it.
> 
> I'd also like to thank Tumblr user @perditioner and @momomoon for their amazing work in beta'ing this fic.


End file.
